Going Through a Phase
by ParaCaerOuVoar
Summary: Being able to phase through a wall is good if you want to escape, but can you ever run away from your life? What happens if life gives chase?
1. Fire

I apologize for the title/summary. They're terrible, but I'm working on better ones, I promise.

Well, the updates may not be too fast on this one, but I thought I'd post it on here. The first in a series of unrelated oneshots about DL Hawkins. Written for 100heroesfics. Enjoy!

Prompt: #52 Fire

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Looking up at the smoke spiraling into the night sky, random asymmetrical patterns dancing up to the stars, I felt a shiver run through me. Tonight would be _my _night. The night I would become a hero.

I watched the flames licking at the house, consuming it. I could do this. I could save a life. Steeling myself, I started towards the house, ignoring the shouts of my superiors and friends. Flames didn't bother me, I could phase right through them.

I was seven the first time I realized that I could, quite literally, walk through flames.

_The fire towered over me, redorangeyellow biting at me, blistering my hands and face. Below me the floor creaked unsteadily, the flames eating at the wooden floorboards beneath, and the oak rafters above. I cowered in my corner, trying to hide from the burning._

_I could hear screams outside, screams of 'My baby! My baby's trapped!', but they didn't register. I didn't recognize that I was the 'baby', and still I hid in plain sight, as the flames inched closer. A beam wobbled then fell, crashing towards me with a deafening shriek. I closed my eyes and wished for a quick death. And then something else happened. My shoulder went cold, and the chill spread down my body, passing my elbow and stomach and settling on my hip, tingling. I cracked one eyelid open and immediately wished I hadn't. It almost looked like I'd been impaled by the falling beam. It should have split me in two, but instead, it just kind of floated through me. The area around it seemed a little hazy, like the beam had phased straight through me. I stood up hesitantly, but the beam stayed where it was, passing through my knee and then finally obscuring my foot from view. Moving forward tentatively, I waved my hand through a flame. It flickered, but passed straight through me. Encouraged, I moved on, my whole body passing through the fire now, moving faster and faster until I was suddenly running onto the lawn, coughing as my soot soaked lungs reacted to the fresh air. I collapsed on my back, staring up at the sky, grinning. I was alive. And apparently I could walk through walls as well flames._

I took a final breath before plunging into the house, returning a moment later with the little girl, her nightgown singed but otherwise OK.

Walking through flames was handier than I thought it would be. It could save lives.


	2. Lightning

Well, here's no. 2. A/N: This is AU, what it would have been like, IMO, if DL had been the one to steal Linderman's money. Once again, sorry for the sparse updates, I AM trying.

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#76, Lightning

The rain cascaded down onto me; deep in thought I just stood there and let it soak me. I looked down at the droplets of water, and felt my pulse match the beat of the rain; the noise emulating from the busy streets surrounding me stopped, as if there were an invisible bubble encompassing me, softening everything around me.

Something was about to happen. I could feel it in every inch of me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I breathed in, listening to my heartbeat, pounding in my ears. In the distance thunder roared, and lightning flashed. I could feel the adrenaline flooding my body in anticipation, and I shifted from one foot to the other, just waiting for the signal.

I was suddenly struck by another thought. My wife and son, waiting for me at home. They have no idea of this double life I lead, loving and attentive father by day, common criminal by night.

No, not a common criminal. A brilliant, devious criminal. I was about to steal almost two million dollars from Daniel Linderman, one of the most dangerous mobsters since the old days of Vegas. He would kill me as soon as look at me, and I was proposing stealing a small fortune right out from under his nose.

Rain dripped of my hood as I pondered this. There was no game to this. There was a very real possibility that I could die doing this. Was it worth it?

Was the risk of never coming home worth the possibility of bringing home the money?

My phone rings once, twice and then silence. It's time. Now or never. Make it or break it.

I look around; making sure no one is watching me, no cops in sight before striding into the casino, unnoticed.


End file.
